Wei Xun arched his brow. He was here to take in the excitement of the tour. But he wasn’t here just to be a tool man tour guide. That was why he maintained an active sense of participation!
Just then, Wei Xun was comparing what Fatty Wang stated to what he knew in reality.
He had heard about the art of tomb raiding being divided into the north and the south sect, but he had never heard about the information Wang Pengpai shared regarding corpse driving.
Luoyang’s Li Yazi was a real person. But he had never heard of Ma Shiyi, who went abroad to study.
Wei Xun, too, had never heard of many of the sights on this trip, such as Wuluo Mountain or Little Dragon Farmstead, but it was a true historical event that Luo Rongguang had sacrificed their lives and led his troops to protect Taku Forts. It was also true that he was born in Hunan Province, in the county of Qiancheng (Jishou).
Was this scenic site designed by Travel Services based on actual historical events, or was there anything concealed in history that ordinary people were unaware of?
Wei Xun was very interested in these aspects of folk customs. Ever since he started pursuing things that could stimulate him many years ago, Wei Xun’s threshold for fear had been sky high. For example, when watching foreign horror flicks, those bloody and “startling” scenes could no longer stimulate him.
Over the years, it was the traditional folklore legends that interested Wei Xun.
He had also created many folkloric horror novels for the sheer fun of reading about how terrified the readers were and how passionately they screamed. He also cruelly liked not updating his work to feel his readers’ rage or their plethora of negative emotions.
After opening a novel, he liked to stop writing it after a while. But because Wei Xun wrote very well, he was quite famous in the small circle of the horror novel genre.
However, no matter how rich his imagination was, writing horror novels wasn’t as thrilling as personally experiencing them.
How nice would it be to be a tourist.
Wei Xun sighed again.
Thinking that they would be able to deal with the corpse and drive it away in person, Wei Xun sometimes wanted to kick off the tourists and replace them to experience it.
“Later, later? Hahahaha, a fat man like me is merely displaying his useless skills in front of a skilled person like Brother 9. Brother 9, are you testing me?”
At first, the fat man, who pretended to be mysterious, was high from the thrill he had gotten when he could speak freely. But after III-9 spoke out, he was so scared that he turned pale and laughed awkwardly. It was almost like a head teacher had caught him playing with his mobile phone in a self-study class. He didn’t dare to blabber any longer, and he felt as if he was about to go bald from the stress as he spoke.
“Later, the two sects separated. Ma Shiyi changed his surname to Lin, he named himself ‘Dong’ of ‘Dongfang,’ and he created his own sect, which was known as the East Sect of Corpse Driving. Lin Shiyi became the leader of the East Sect of Corpse Driving. Later, during the Republic of China era, the whole clan moved to Hong Kong. My family didn’t recognize the east sect. Still, for the sake of distinguishing them, outsiders later called my family the West Sect of Corpse Driving. This west refers to the west of Xiangxi and does not refer to the actual west. The old chief of the West Sect of that generation was Lin Shiyi’s blood-related older brother, Old Chief Lin.”
“The East Sect of corpse drivers requires people to drive corpses in pairs. The first person is known as the ‘the person who serves water,’ while the latter is known as the ‘the person holding onto the talisman.’ Before arriving at the destination, the bowl of water carried by the person who serves water should not be spilled. The talisman should also be intact. What the East Sect stresses is that there is a different way to drive the corpses, and they will drive all the Chinese corpses who want to return to their hometowns.”
“The West Sect uses the Xiaoyin Gong and the Dementor Bell, and the method used to drive corpses is also known as Chenzhou talisman corpse driving. The West Sect uses many techniques to deal with the corpses before driving the corpses, so it will be easier to drive corpses. Therefore, there’s no need for two people to drive corpses. Only one person is required to drive the corpses. However, they also abide by the traditional rules and pay attention to the principle of ‘three corpses that can be driven, and three corpses that can’t be driven.’”
“Those who were beheaded, those who were hanged, and those who died in a cangue can be driven. They didn’t die voluntarily, so they have a lot of resentment, and they have a strong obsession to return to their hometown. In other words, their souls are still in the corpse.”
“Those who died of illness, those who commit suicide by throwing themselves in a river, and those who are killed by thunder and fire can’t be driven. Their dead soul is taken away by the black and white impermanence. The ghosts who threw themselves into the river are looking for someone to replace them in suffering. Their souls have already been ‘handed over.’ It would be more terrifying for someone to be struck by lightning, as they’re a man of great sin. And for those burned to death by fire, since they do not have a complete corpse, they can’t be driven.”
He pointed to the pile of things that Miao Fangfei had poured on the table. “Cinnabar, Chenzhou talismans, and the multicolored cloth strips are all things for processing corpses. Leader Miao, this should be written in the manual.”
“Yes.”
Miao Fangfei nodded solemnly. She had just finished reading <<Ancient Craft: Processing Corpses>>.
“All the things needed to prepare the corpses are present in the cloth bag.”
Miao Fangfei said coldly, and she didn’t have a relaxed expression on her face.
“In these materials, the Yang energy is sufficient, and there is no Yin or evil resentment.”
Xu Chen nodded. He was a rather gentle and handsome man, with a faint green light reflecting in his pupils. He looked a bit like a wolf.
[Resentment Perception (Green Title): You are suffering from some type of eye disease, and you can see inexplicable malicious energies. Be careful. People who knew more will always be the people who die the fastest~]
“I’m afraid that there may be unexpected events happening during the time we are preparing our corpses.”
They were all veteran tourists and would not have hoped that the Travel Services would bestow them “kindness” for a long time. Since there were no missing materials in such a dangerous level tour’s “ancient craft” experience, it meant that they would most likely experience something dangerous in the “experience” itself.
It could be a corpse, it could be some other danger, or it could be……
“Hiss, that’s too bad. Which corpse should I choose?”
The fat man shook his head in embarrassment, casting a shadow on the hearts of the tourists.
Yes, there were about ten coffins in the main room and dozens of corpses in the yard.
Which corpses should they drive?
Although the corpses in the coffins of the main house appeared more like the subjects they should prepare, choosing the right target from dozens of decaying corpses was also a common method used by the Travel Services to allow them to enjoy a better experience.
Veteran tourists would never make a rash decision because it was a life-threatening decision. No one would give up their life because of a “probability” or a “possibility.”
Wei Xun was very interested as he watched them discuss seriously from the side and did not disturb them. Of course, if the tourists knew that Wei Xun was awakened by the Travel Services at 3 a.m. and had to go near the coffins in the main room to pick up these bags, maybe their selections could be narrowed down.
But the tour guide couldn’t tell the tourists such information.
“Before 9 p.m., please bring your corpse friends to the first floor of the hall.”
Wei Xun carried out his duty. In the ears of the tourists, his words automatically translated to “before 9 p.m., find the ‘right’ corpse and prepare it.”
It was 5:30 in the morning, and they only had half a day to find and deal with the corpses.
Everyone’s expressions revealed that they were not relaxed. They went to discuss and finally decided to divide the team into two groups. Miao Fangfei and Zhao Hongtu, the two most powerful people, went to check the rotten corpses in the yard. The others went to the main room to look at the corpses in the coffins.
It wasn’t obvious when they were discussing, but the relationship between the tourists was reflected when they walked out. Zhao Hongtu and the other tourists gathered in a group, while Miao Fangfei, Shi Tao, and Lin Xi, the three “III-9’s people,” gathered closer.
Wei Xun didn’t want to observe the relationship between the tourists. He hummed as he returned to his room, closed the door, stood in front of the mirror, and lifted the clothes that he was wearing on his upper body.
[Porno Value +1]
“Nothing changed?”
Wei Xun stared at his pale and thin chest that was akin to a piece of paper in the mirror and couldn’t find any other problems.
Last night, when he returned from Shi Tao’s room, Wei Xun simply used the new scenic spot experience ball to increase the exploration level of the new scenic spot, “Flying Fox Mountain Forest.” He had 10% progress previously. Now, adding on the 45% from the ball, he had reached more than 50% for the task.
After reaching more than half of the progress for the task of opening up new scenic spots, Wei Xun received a reward from the Travel Services.
…But he only received 100 points.
The Travel Services were extremely stingy!
It wasn’t known if it was because Wei Xun had taken the “shortcut” for the task, so the Travel Services became stingy.
Wei Xun continued to make complaints to himself for the day. What should he do with the remaining points——
Hiss, it would be really thrilling to experience menstrual cramps, but the ticket only allowed him to experience it for ten minutes.
Wei Xun, who pursued the principle of carpe diem, used some points to allow himself to enjoy the experience thrice.
This was his personal information now——
[Tour Guide Personal Information]
[Code name: III-9 (only in this tour)]
[Rank: Silver-rank Five-stars (III-9’s rank) 十十十]
[Countdown to death—25:14:21]
[Points: 55]
[Mental Pollution Value (SAN): 90]
That was right. When he went to the main room to pick up the cloth bag dyed in wax, Wei Xun found that there were three big plus signs behind his rank, and there was a new numerical item in the last column!
[Warning! Your countdown to death has been below the safe threshold for more than 12 hours. The Travel Services is worried about your predicament and has changed your Mental Pollution Value (SAN) into a numerical value. Please pay attention to it at all times!]
[When you are continuously in the low countdown to death state, are in a situation where you are so frightened that it is fatal, or are continuously in a state of fear, your SAN value will decrease. When the SAN value decreases, you will have auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, experience madness, your body will mutate, or other phenomena. When the SAN value falls to zero, you will become completely crazy and turn into a monster!]
[Please pay attention to your mental health and don’t excessively pursue the prowess you possess when your countdown to death is low!]
After putting down his clothes, Wei Xun took off his hat and touched his forehead.
There, he felt two small bumps.
It felt like his forehead was swelling. Yet, it was also similar to——
Not fully grown, immature sharp horns.
“I don’t feel anything.”
Wei Xun touched the tip of his forehead and looked at it from various angles. He couldn’t see it clearly using the mirror. Even if he parted his hair, he still couldn’t see anything. It was as if the sharp protrusion wasn’t even as prominent as acne.
“A plus sign had appeared behind the rank… The lower the countdown to death, the stronger the combat prowess of the tour guide? Sure enough, I can only keep the countdown to death low for a limited amount of time.”
The appearance of SAN value was the Travel Services warning him when he had constantly kept the countdown to death low.
But…
“How exciting!”
Wei Xun was so exhilarated that he touched the corner of his forehead and rubbed his ass. “Will I become a dragon folk?”
“Or will I become a devil? If I mutate, maybe I could fly!”
Wei Xun wondered whether the monster he would turn into would have wings. In a state of extreme excitement, he touched his entire body passionately and finally confirmed that there were no other changes except his forehead, and the bump wasn’t even as big as acne. After feeling that there weren’t any changes in his body, he sadly stopped touching himself.
“From last night until now, I’ve dropped ten SAN points.”
At the same time, Wei Xun mumbled to himself——
“Hehe……”
“Hehehe……”
The ethereal and gloomy laughter reverberated in Wei Xun’s room, sounding right behind him. And the mirror in front of Wei Xun suddenly reflected an extremely rotten face that was full of maggots!
The author has something to say:
Happy Lantern Festival, little angels! A hundred red envelopes will be sent out randomly today~
On March 5th, I will enter V. And after I enter V, you will have daily chapter updates of about 10k words!
T/N: Unfortunately I will have to skip next week’s chapter releases because next week is the week when I’m submitting my thesis. I have to apologize for not updating TOUR because I don’t have enough stockpile for it. Updates will resume on 23rd Aug. So sorry about it.